A slimmer body, more energy, even a longer life — they all start with small changes you can do to get healthier.Looking for easy ways to get healthy? Try one of our favorite heart-healthy recipes.

To be successful at any big undertaking — starting a new career, salvaging a shaky marriage, mastering a foreign language — you have to "give it 110 percent," as the saying goes. But when it comes to what may be the most important change of all — revitalizing your health — you may be better off giving only 10 percent and not worrying too much about the other proverbial 100. "You're more likely to succeed by making small changes," says Catherine Champagne, Ph.D., professor of research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System. "If you totally overhaul your diet or start an ambitious exercise program, you're less likely to stick with it."

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Micro-improvements do more than chip away at a larger objective — they accomplish plenty on their own. Some of these are cumulative; do several and you'll see an even bigger benefit. Here are (count 'em) 10 small shifts that can reward you with a big health payoff.

1. Smile at the Scale

The small change: Lose 10 percent of your body weight. If you're 5' 5" and weigh 160 pounds, shaving off just 10 percent (16 pounds) will take you from the "overweight" category to a normal body mass index (a measure of your height and weight in relation to each other). If you weigh 180, losing 18 pounds moves you below the dangerous threshold of clinical obesity. What's more, it's a manageable goal. "We find that people who lose just 1 percent of their body weight per week can lose 10 percent in two to three months without feeling they're making a sacrifice," says Maciej Buchowski, Ph.D., director of the Energy Balance Core Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The big gains: Dropping pounds — and 10 percent is the initial target touted by the National Institutes of Health — will do more than let you go down a size or more in your jeans. It can also lower blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, making you a less likely candidate for heart attack or stroke. You'll also cut your chances of becoming diabetic. In fact, in a recent multicenter study, people who lost just a little over two pounds lowered their diabetes risk by 16 percent. And in new research at the University of California, San Francisco, heavy women with incontinence who lost somewhat less than 10 percent of their body weight reduced leakage 47 percent after six months (compared with a control group who received only educational support and saw a 28 percent drop in symptoms).

2. Take Your Dog for a Walk

The small change: Up your exercise 10 percent. Even if you're completely sedentary, your body still burns at least 1,000 calories a day (depending on your weight and age). So boosting that by 10 percent translates to a mere 100 calories — an amount you could expend by taking Fido out for a 28-minute walk. No dog? Mow the lawn with a hand-powered mower for 14 minutes, or walk up and down stairs for 15 minutes.

The big gains: A burn of 100 extra calories a day could help you drop up to 10 pounds in a year, provided you don't eat more (though you don't have to eat less, either). Even if you're already active — that is, you meet current guidelines of at least two and a half hours of moderate activity a week — heart health improves progressively (more exercise is better), so you'll still benefit.

Moving more can also cut breast cancer risk — walking 75 minutes (a little over 10 minutes a day) to two and a half hours a week drops your odds 18 percent, the Women's Health Initiative found. And exercise calms nerves even better than various nondrug treatments for anxiety, such as therapy and meditation, a review of 49 studies found.

3. Rent Duck Soup from NetFlix

The small change: Laugh for 10 minutes. Watch your favorite sitcom or invite friends over to view a funny video, as Buchowski had people do in a study that measured calories burned during hearty laughter. Compared with another session, in which the group was stupefied by viewing films of sheep grazing in the countryside, watching comedies used up 10 to 20 percent more calories.

The big gains: Think of it as jogging on the sofa: Laughing tenses your abdominal muscles, makes your heart beat faster, and speeds your breathing so you take in more oxygen. "All those things burn energy," says Buchowski, who calculates that you could burn off between 10 and 40 calories for every 10 to 15 minutes of levity a day. That means in a year, you could become four pounds slimmer just by watching TV!

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4. Snack on Six Strawberries

The small change: Eat 10 percent more fruits and veggies. Federal guidelines say we should be eating nine half-cup servings of produce a day. Snack on an additional six strawberries or half a large carrot, and you'll boost your intake about 10 percent above the recommendation.

The big gains: Each added daily portion of fruit (and it needn't be strawberries — you could munch on 15 grapes or half a peach) lowers stroke risk by 11 percent and heart disease odds by 7 percent, reviews of international studies have found. Pumping up produce (both fruit and veggies) also halves your chances of getting oral cancer, another review reported. Not already meeting your nine-a-day quota? The same small, easy-to-get portions take you there easily.

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5. Make Your Own Marinara

The small change: Cut sodium 10 percent. Get the salt out: Stir up your own pasta sauce, choose low-sodium varieties of soup, or swap out canned vegetables for fresh or frozen (check labels). Any of these steps reduces your sodium intake by at least 400 milligrams a day — about 10 percent of the 3,600 to 4,800 mg Americans typically consume (which is already way above the recommended limit of 2,400 mg).

The big gains: Drop sodium 400 mg and you'll whittle your odds of having heart disease — indeed, the American Heart Association just calculated that if we all cut back sodium that small amount, there would be 250,000 fewer heart disease cases and 200,000-plus fewer deaths over the next 10 years. Stepping on the scale will also be less scary: "Sodium makes you retain water; when there's less in your body, you'll lose fluid," says Norman Kaplan, M.D., professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

6. Cut the Salt and Run

The small change: Lower blood pressure 10 points. Here's where several small steps boost the total payoff. People who cut back on salt usually eat more fresh foods like fruits and vegetables, studies have reported. Toss in extra exercise, and you'll find yourself naturally losing weight. Together, these moves can lower blood pressure 10 points — enough to knock you out of a danger-zone prehypertension reading of 129 (the systolic, or upper number) down to a healthy 119. "You can expect blood pressure to fall one point for every pound you lose," says Dr. Kaplan. And sometimes more: "I lost 10 pounds and my pressure went down 15 points," he adds.

The big gains: If your blood pressure is elevated now — even just slightly — each 10-point drop in systolic pressure makes you one-third less likely to have a stroke, a recent review of more than 40 studies worldwide found. And by keeping pressure healthy, you'll be protecting yourself from heart and kidney disease.

7. Eat the Right Fats

The small change: Get 10 percent of your calories from omega-6s. You probably already take in some of these healthy fats from nuts, cooking oil, and salad dressing. But you may well need more — 5 to 10 percent of your daily calories should come from omega-6 fatty acids, advises the American Heart Association in a new recommendation. One easy way to ramp up: Replace saturated fats like butter with corn, sunflower, or safflower oil. But keep in mind that oil is high in calories; two tablespoons will do the trick.

8. Can the Cola

The small change: Cut calories 10 percent by cutting back on soda. Down one less sugary soft drink a day, and you'll knock off 240 calories (that's for a 20-ounce bottle). Assuming a typical 2,000-calorie daily intake, there's your 10 percent — plus a bit!

The big gains: Besides helping you lose weight, drinking fewer sodas may also make you less prone to diabetes. And if you have a heavy-duty soda habit, you may want to cut back more: Your vulnerability climbs as intake goes up, research has found.

9. TiVo Conan O'Brien

The small change: Sleep 10 percent more. If you normally log seven hours of shut-eye a night, turn in 40 minutes earlier to boost your sleep time by about 10 percent.

The big gains: Sleep isn't like pulling the car into the garage and turning off the engine, says James Walsh, Ph.D., executive director of the Sleep Medicine and Research Center at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, MO. "It actively restores the brain and body, including the immune system." People who snagged less than seven hours a night were nearly three times more likely to catch a cold after being exposed to viruses than well-rested souls who averaged eight hours or more, new multicenter research reported. Getting eight hours (seven if you have to) can also help protect you from high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. Rest will also help you keep your weight down.

10. Say Si to a Siesta

The small change: Take a 10-minute nap. Find a quiet place to lie down during the day, especially if you don't get enough zzz's at night.

The big gains: Daytime snoozing is good for your heart: When Greek researchers measured deaths from heart disease, they found there were 37 percent fewer among people who napped regularly, compared with non-nappers. But to feel sharp when you wake up, limit dozing to 10 minutes: In an Australian study, people who napped for 20 to 30 minutes were slower to get back in gear.